Church of murdered pastor supports execution. Another clergyman says it should be stopped

Ecclesiastical lines have been drawn over the fate of Texas death row inmate Steven Nelson, with one church saying his sentence for killing its pastor is justified and another clergyman saying the state violates a foundational principle of Christianity.

Nelson, 37, was convicted for the 2011 murder of the Rev. Clint Dobson at NorthPointe Baptist Church in Arlington, just west of Dallas. He's scheduled to be executed by lethal injection on Feb. 5.

The Rev. Jeff Hood, a death row spiritual adviser and anti-death penalty activist based in Arkansas, has spearheaded a clemency campaign for Nelson, holding a protest at NorthPointe's sister church First Baptist Arlington, reaching out to news media for attention on the case and trying to open a dialogue with First Baptist.

"What is at stake is the very faith that they proclaim, that I proclaim," Hood told Paste BN in an interview. "If First Baptist Arlington is able to turn Jesus into an executioner, then they are able to rewrite the faith however they choose."

First Baptist has opposed efforts to overturn Nelson’s conviction and has supported his upcoming execution, according to reporting from the Austin American-Statesman, part of the Paste BN Network.

“As the Bible teaches us, God has placed the civil authority in our midst so that innocent people can live in freedom without fear and so that guilty offenders can be appropriately punished,” Dennis Wiles, the pastor of First Baptist, said in a statement issued after Nelson’s 2012 sentencing. 

What is Steven Nelson convicted of?

The Rev. Clint Dobson, then 28, was beaten and suffocated while the church secretary, Judy Elliot, was severely beaten but survived, according to court records.

Church officials who found Elliot did not recognize who she was due to her injuries while the police officer who responded to the scene, who was also Elliot's husband, recognized her by her clothes.

Nelson admitted to stealing Elliot's car along with her laptop and credit cards, with which he purchased gas, as well as clothes and jewelry at an Arlington mall. Nelson maintains that two accomplices committed the murder, testifying that he went into the church five minutes after his accomplices to find the victims on the floor but still alive.

Tarrant County prosecutors alleged that Nelson acted alone.

The two alleged accomplices presented alibis that clemency lawyers for Nelson have argued were not fully contested by Nelson's trial lawyers.

Court records show that investigators found DNA from both Dobson and Elliot on Nelson's shoe but clemency advocates point to there being no DNA directly tying Nelson to the murder. Lawyers for Nelson also argued that one of his accomplices had injuries that were consistent with the assault while Nelson did not.

A jury convicted Nelson after receiving a law-of-the-parties instruction, a part of Texas law that allows juries to convict a defendant for felonies committed by co-conspirators during a crime − even if the defendant did not participate in the felony.

Laura Dobson, the pastor's widow, addressed Nelson at the sentencing hearing, according to the Dallas Morning News, telling him: "After this trial is over, no one will want to remember you, but people will most definitely remember Clint."

Church supported death penalty decision

The First Baptist Arlington praised the decision to sentence Nelson to death, saying in a statement published by CBS Texas at the time that "Dobson did not die in vain."

"We now can confidently say that justice has been served and we will support the decision of this court," the statement read.Paste BN has reached out to First Baptist Arlington multiple times for comment and did not receive a response.

Hood said at a news conference following a November protest at First Baptist that representatives of the church forced the protest off of a church lawn and onto the sidewalk, had people watching the news conference from the roof and called the police on the demonstration.

"Any church that has to call the police like that, have people on the roof respond the way that they did, is operating from a place of fear and not love," Hood told Paste BN. "For that matter, they're operating from a place of vengeance and not love."

Hood has sent multiple letters to the church but hasn't received a response.

Death row inmate's wife calls church's support of execution disappointing

Nelson's wife, Noa Dubois, said that First Baptist's support of the execution is "disappointing" and accused the church of not living up to its own values.

Dubois, an immigrant from France, met Nelson through a prison letter-writing program in 2020 and married him in December.

Dubois said at the roundtable that she has reached out Dobson's widow, Laura Dobson, but did not receive a response.

"I could learn and exchange and hear (her) story, how she felt," Dubois said. "I think we had a lot to give each other. It's a missed opportunity."

Clemency activists were clear-eyed in the nature of what Nelson had admitted to in court but said at the press roundtable that avoiding discussing the case does a disservice to the victims and Nelson.

"Certainly, his actions were very evil," Hood said. "This is not an exercise in saying that none of this happened, erase this stuff or anything like that. This is simply an exercise in saying that the conversation is wider. We are all bigger than a moment. ... Steven's story is bigger than a moment."

Tarrant County district attorney stands behind conviction

Tarrant County District Attorney Phil Sorrells stood behind the conviction and death sentence in a statement to Paste BN.

"Nelson’s conviction was based on overwhelming physical and circumstantial evidence connecting him to the crime," Sorrells said. "His fingerprints and distinctive decorative fragments from a belt he was wearing when arrested were found at the scene. Blood from Dobson and Elliot was found on Nelson’s shoes."

The United States saw 25 executions nationwide in 2024, with five of them occurring in Texas. Texas has seen the most executions since the Supreme Court reinstated the death penalty in 1978, putting 591 people to death.

If his execution moves forward, Nelson will be the first inmate executed in Texas in 2025 and the second in the nation.

Contributing: Bayliss Wagner